Knew a guy with a terrible war wound back in the day (fixable these days) who was in constant pain from his leg, and one day, deliberately got a bit drunk and, near a vA hospital, shot the remains of his leg off with his .45 so he’d get a prosthetic that would be painless and more functional. He got phantom pain worse than the actual dead useless leg. He eventually was able to force himself to walk despite that, but …
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah.
that’s a tale and a half. i knew a girl with a useless leg, lots of pain and couldn’t walk. had it removed, and got a prosthetic that worked so well, people thought she was whole, but with a limp. i don’t believe in luck, but i believe it’s a dick. i will say, your story sounds more story worthy. sorry bout your buddy though. and a .45 too…… sheesh. like trying to fix a hangnail with a hammer.
i don’t know. stories like this, and this is an unpopular take, support the troops all you want, but stop sending them places. seems like they don’t get the care they should expect when they return. just my 2 cents.
And now my frontal cortex is overheating trying to remember the SF novel where the protagonist had a transplanted arm that obeyed his Sargent rather than him.
Possibly Gunner in the title?
The protagonist had a transplanted arm that obeyed his Sergeant? That sounds like it could have come from one of the Bill the Galactic Hero novels. (I read the first one, once, but never read the others.)
Hm…A might confused at this. Did they not trust the new arm to not be lojacked? Always look gift Cyberware in the mouth is a staple of these kinds of works.
hah, that would be a story twist. and arm you can’t trust? i could just make the sci fi remake of evil dead. if that wouldn’t be sacrilcious. and it would be.
in the second to last scene the grins were in, smirk was told by the medic that the wires to reconnect his arm to his think meat was a temporary fix, and he would have to get it replaced. on the bridge, virgil tore a piece of it out, disabling his arm. that’s why smirk’s been all right (but not alright) this entire scene. so, cause it was essentially dead, the thinking was to cut it off entirely. if that wasn’t clear, i’ll keep that in mind next time i think i’m assuming something can go unsaid.
Ah, okay. It may have just been something I forgot. My stress levels have been significantly higher recently. But a staple in other Cyberpunk-y works I’m familiar with is “Cortex Bombs”, which are bombs implanted in or near the brain of an individual, usually without their knowledge or consent. So my brain went there.
yeah, i’ve never been a huge fan of implanted bombs, especially when they become a ‘twist’. ‘like, little did you know, we wout a bomb in you!’. how is that a twist? unless you foreshadow that it COULD have happened, you’re just keeping stuff from the reader. as a tool to motivate a character into action, they’re more acceptable, but still a bit lazy. i feel that when a protagonist is motivated to action, it should be more compelling than the threat of remote detonation, so that they have more agency in their own survival.
sorry bout your stress levels. holiday stress time? i’m sure you’re not alone there.
Knew a guy with a terrible war wound back in the day (fixable these days) who was in constant pain from his leg, and one day, deliberately got a bit drunk and, near a vA hospital, shot the remains of his leg off with his .45 so he’d get a prosthetic that would be painless and more functional. He got phantom pain worse than the actual dead useless leg. He eventually was able to force himself to walk despite that, but …
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah.
that’s a tale and a half. i knew a girl with a useless leg, lots of pain and couldn’t walk. had it removed, and got a prosthetic that worked so well, people thought she was whole, but with a limp. i don’t believe in luck, but i believe it’s a dick. i will say, your story sounds more story worthy. sorry bout your buddy though. and a .45 too…… sheesh. like trying to fix a hangnail with a hammer.
i don’t know. stories like this, and this is an unpopular take, support the troops all you want, but stop sending them places. seems like they don’t get the care they should expect when they return. just my 2 cents.
Gil the Arm in Larry Niven’s Known Space
And now my frontal cortex is overheating trying to remember the SF novel where the protagonist had a transplanted arm that obeyed his Sargent rather than him.
Possibly Gunner in the title?
never read it. but that’s not surprising. i’m not all that well read. when other kids were reading, i was drawing. not much changes.
The protagonist had a transplanted arm that obeyed his Sergeant? That sounds like it could have come from one of the Bill the Galactic Hero novels. (I read the first one, once, but never read the others.)
Hm…A might confused at this. Did they not trust the new arm to not be lojacked? Always look gift Cyberware in the mouth is a staple of these kinds of works.
hah, that would be a story twist. and arm you can’t trust? i could just make the sci fi remake of evil dead. if that wouldn’t be sacrilcious. and it would be.
in the second to last scene the grins were in, smirk was told by the medic that the wires to reconnect his arm to his think meat was a temporary fix, and he would have to get it replaced. on the bridge, virgil tore a piece of it out, disabling his arm. that’s why smirk’s been all right (but not alright) this entire scene. so, cause it was essentially dead, the thinking was to cut it off entirely. if that wasn’t clear, i’ll keep that in mind next time i think i’m assuming something can go unsaid.
thanks for the question!
Ah, okay. It may have just been something I forgot. My stress levels have been significantly higher recently. But a staple in other Cyberpunk-y works I’m familiar with is “Cortex Bombs”, which are bombs implanted in or near the brain of an individual, usually without their knowledge or consent. So my brain went there.
yeah, i’ve never been a huge fan of implanted bombs, especially when they become a ‘twist’. ‘like, little did you know, we wout a bomb in you!’. how is that a twist? unless you foreshadow that it COULD have happened, you’re just keeping stuff from the reader. as a tool to motivate a character into action, they’re more acceptable, but still a bit lazy. i feel that when a protagonist is motivated to action, it should be more compelling than the threat of remote detonation, so that they have more agency in their own survival.
sorry bout your stress levels. holiday stress time? i’m sure you’re not alone there.
“until”
‘no’
A far more succinct version of Mark Twain explaining the dialog in Huck Finn
brevity is the soul of wit. or whatever. haha
Brutal. And he barely feels it? Lol… “except where it hurts like a son of a bitch.”
No one said that Jason didn’t have a sense of humor 😒
haha, i thought it fit his character. he’s a bit of a jackass, and that’s right in my wheelhouse.